Our learners are exploring different things and applying new knowledge daily! We had a larger emphasis on interpersonal skills this week by completing several team building challenges to strengthen our tribe. When our studio community is working well together our heroes grow in academics and their character! 

The freeze narrowed down our week to only two days, but we made them count! Our learners dove right back into their routines and were determined to get the most out of their core skills time. Shout out to Charlie and Tucker who even took extra initiative to work on things over the weekend!

Session 5 started with a whirlwind of engaging activities that left our learners curious and excited about what is in store for the next several weeks. Exploring physics, pop art, and baking are just a few things that made a jam packed 4 days. We hope everyone had a happy holiday and are glad to be back!

The final week of session 4 was full of exhibition prep and holiday festivities! Any hero from the elementary studio that met the qualifications for the “Season of Giving” challenge earned popcorn and a movie during core skills on Wednesday. They watched “Searching for Bobby Fischer” to get them excited for the final round of their chess competition! Harper earned the most points during the challenge and won the bonus prize of a Chick-fil-A gift card - congrats Harper!

This week our discussions focused on where the heroes felt “stuck” and how they could overcome those obstacles to reach their goals. They identified clear and intentional goal setting, perseverance, and accountability as factors that needed to be considered. Our learners are continuing to work hard through these final weeks before Christmas break!

We are over halfway through session 4 and our heroes haven’t slowed down! They continue to work on improving their skills and crushing their goals. Now is a great time to check in with your learner on how well they are slaying the monsters of resistance, victimhood and distraction. What do they need to do in order to accomplish their goals by exhibition? 

We are halfway through the session and getting better at chess every day! The heroes are improving at notating, learning new strategies, and taking their chess skills seriously. Improving strategy in chess is linked to improving skills in other aspects of life like math. The heroes took a basic math skills drill at the beginning of the session, and are going to retake it at the end of the session to compare. We can’t wait to see how their end of session tournament goes!

This week we read “The Giving Tree” and in the Elementary Studio started the “Seasons of Giving Challenge”! This challenge invites learners to write daily in their gratitude journal as well as display heroic traits such as kindness, encouragement, dedication, and honesty. This is a session-long challenge and heroes have the opportunity to earn a popcorn/movie party.